Page 12-Wednesday, August 9, 1978-The Michigan Daily Express get by on Francis goal By PAUL CAMPBELL Special toThe Daily PONTIAC - One of the banners displayed at the Silverdome said it all. "TGIF," it proclaimed on bold blue letters. "Thank God it's Francis." Thank you, indeed. Trevor Francis; the 24-year-old English star who has turned the Detroit Express into one of the best teams in the NASL, scored the only goal as his team disposed of the Philadelphia Fury 1-0 last night in first round playoff action. So the team that stood at 5-6 and had only scored 12 goals in its first 11 games now moves into the second round of the playoffs, a home-and-home series which will begin Sunday at either California, San Diego, or Fort Lauder- dale. Francis dominated the game, as he has so many since he crossed the ocean. He took ten shots and only alert goaltending by Keith MacRae kept the super striker from piling up more playoff points. . The one goal he did score came to him rather easily. Late in the first half, Ian Davies came up with the ball out of a scramble at the Philly 35 yard line. When Davies leaked the ball through two Fury defenders to Francis in the penalty are, Francis strolled in alone and casually pumped the ball into the lower left corner, giving 22,456 fans a chance to see him and be amazed at least one more time. "I think the ball hit a Philadelphia defender," said Francis after the game. "I thought I was a bit offsides but I wasn't about to stop." Both linesmen and the umpire disagreed with Francis, seeing at least one Fury man between Francis and MacRae when the goal scorer received the ball. I The rest of the- game consisted of Detroit defensive tactics and oc- Gone Fiskin- AP Photo casional Fury flurries in the direction of Detroit goalie Steve Hardwick, who These Boston fans saw Red Sox catcher Carleton Fisk in an up close and personal turned aside thirteen shots in racking manner, although it seemed to surprise a good many of them. Fisk was fran- up his tenth shutout of the season. tically chasing a popup in the third inning of last night's game when he leaped The victory moves Detroit into the over the retaining wall and landed amidst the -front row spectators. This confirms American Conference semifinals. the theory that Fenway Park brings fans closer to the action. ENDS FIVE GAME STREAK Texas stops Tiger machine, 9-4 By GARY KICINSKI Special to The Daily DETROIT - It looked more like an exhibition of quality carpentry than a baseball game last night, as the Texas Rangers hammered the Tigers, 9-4. The loss snapped the Tigers five- game winning streak, but kept them in fourth place as fifth place Baltimore also lost. THE RANGERS counted starter Dave Rozema with line shot after line shot, forcing Rozema's exit in the fifth inning after giving four runs and seven hits. At that point, Detroit trailed 5-1, but the Rangers continued to nail even deeper into the open Tiger wound by pounding reliefer Jack Morris for three more runs in the seventh, and added a solo run in the ninth. When the sawdust finally settled, the Rangers had drilled fourteen hits off Rozema, Morris, and Ed Glynn. Bump Wills collected four singles to lead the Ranger assault. ROZEMA (5-6) didn't have it from the start, as the Lumberjacks - I mean the Rangers - had two men on in every inning except the second. The Tigers gave Rozema a run to work with in the first, as a walk to Lou Whitaker and a Rusty Staub single set up Steve Kemp's RBI hit, a liner to right center. Texas tallied a single run in the four- th on Rozema's wild pitch with American League batting leader Al Oliver on third base. But the Ranger's put away the ham- mer and brought out the buzz saw for the fifth, cutting up the Tiger field for four runs. AAFTER LOADING the bases with nobody out, Wills lashed a single good for two runs to make it 3-1. That brought in Morris, who even- tually gave up a two-run double to Bob- by Bonds to give Texas a 5-1 lead. The Tigers retaliated with a single run in the fifth off starter and rookie Paul Mirabella. With two outs, Ron LeFlore singled, advanced on Whitaker's walk and scored his major league-leading 86th run on Rusty Staub's major league- leading 90th RBI. BUT THREE Rangers paid no heed to the Tiger white hankies and cracked home three more runs in the seventh and a single run in the ninth. Three of the four runs came on upper deck blasts by Jim Sundberg and Bon- ds. Trailing 9-2 in thelast of the ninth, the Tigers made one last stab against reliever Doc Medich. Doubles by Lance Parrish, Milt May and LeFlore scored two runs to make the final score 9-4. IKicj. eague S ading AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST W L Pct. GB Boston...............70 40 .636 - Milwaukee...........61 47 .565 8 New York ............ 62 49.556 81/ Detroit..... ... ...... 60 50 .545 10 Baltimore ....... ..... 60 51 .541 10 / Cleveland ...........51 58 .468 18%/ Toronto.............42 69 .378 28 / WEST Kansas City ...........60 48 .556 - California ............. 61 53 .535 2 Oakland .............. 60 54 .526 3 Texas ............. ..53 56 .486 8 Chicago ............... 46 63 .422 14 1 Minnesota............46 63 .422 14% Seattle ..... .....41 72 .363 21 , Late games not included Yesterday's Results Toronto 5, Baltimore 3 New York 3,.MilwaukeeO Boason 9,Cleveland 7 Texas 9 etroitl NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST W L Pct. GB Philadelphia .......... 59 49 .546 - Chicago .............. 57 54 .514 31/2 Pittsburgh ..... ...... 51 57 .472 8 Montreal...............54 60 .474 8 New York ............. 47 66 .416 14 / St. Louis ............. 44 68 .393 17 WEST San Francisco ......... 66 46 .589 - Cincinnati............65 47 .580 1 Los Angeles ........4... 48 .571 2 San Diego ............ 57 55 .509 9 Atlanta ..............53 59 .473 13 Houston............. 51 59 .464 14 Late games not included s esterday's Results Pittsburgh 9, Chicgo 5 St. Louis 2, Philadelphia 0. 1st game Montreal6, New York 1 Atlanta 5, Cincinnati 5 Red Wings acquire free agent Vachon By The Associated Press DETROIT-Rogie Vachon, seven-year veteran goaltender of the Los Angeles Rings, has signed a multi-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings, the team an- nounced yesterday. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Vachon, 32, joined the National Hockey League in 1971 after winninga place on the Vezina Trophy with the Montreal Canadiens. He averaged 2.77 goals-against in six full seasons with the Kings. He became a free agent on June 1. The Detroit-LA deal will go to arbitration, of- ficials said, because Ted Lindsay, Red Wings general manger, and Los Angeles owner Jack Kent Cooke were unable to agree on compensation. Vachon said ina statement that he was pleased with his new team. "I have alot of good years left in the NHL," Vachon said in the announcement. "I really feel that this team is going somewhere, and I'm glad to be a part of it."